


Our Shade of Blue

by SichengForTheWinWin



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dreams, Dreams and Nightmares, Fluff, Kim Hongjoong-centric, M/M, Post-Apocalypse, illusion universe, inception universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:07:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26654170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SichengForTheWinWin/pseuds/SichengForTheWinWin
Summary: Kim Hongjoong must work past all the obstacles to reach him.  He must get to him.  As soon as he can.
Relationships: Kang Yeosang/Kim Hongjoong
Kudos: 18





	Our Shade of Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Other title ideas: Ships With Them, You Are My Purpose, Running Through Me, Horrible Dreams, Make It Back to You, Where Are We Going?, Blue Hair Dye

San slung an arm over Hongjoong’s shoulder and laughed into his ear. Someone behind them had made a joke Hongjoong couldn’t hear, so he let San's bright voice carry him along. His eyes crinkled as his smile grew wider and Hongjoong couldn’t help but smile himself. San’s good mood was infectious.

He turned away from the wheel in front of him and looked at the rest of the group. They were hanging out, lounging about the ship, and throwing things at each other. San left his side and plopped down into Seonghwa’s lap. Seonghwa sneered at him, but also wrapped his arms around his waist, not letting him escape.

The longer Hongjoong watched them, the more his head hurt. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong, but when he looked away, the pain cleared. It might have been because of what they were wearing. They were pretty bright clothes. He also might just need a nap.

He turned to tell someone to man the wheel, but there wasn’t anyone there. They had all disappeared. He whirled back around, and there they were, all sitting around a table with a giant map on it. Mingi was pointing something out to them. Everyone was half listening to him, half watching Jongho balance a telescope on his nose.

Hongjoong tried to pay attention to what someone was saying, but he couldn’t hear them. It was gibberish, a collection of words that made no sense together. Someone of it wasn’t even in Korean, but he couldn’t recognize the language.

He put his hand on Jongho’s shoulder but, when he looked up, it was Mingi. Hadn’t Mingi been at the board a second ago? He looked around and Mingi had been replaced by San and Yeosang. They were drawing a star map and bickering with teasing voices.

“Hyung?” It sounded like he was listening through water.

Hongjoong looked back down. His hand was on Mingi’s thigh as they sat on a couch. The others were all trying to orient the map. Seonghwa was ordering them around while he messed with the wheel.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Mingi’s voice was clear now, and he could see his face. The rest of him still seemed wrong somehow, but he couldn’t figure out why.

“Just tired,” he said, turning to look at him straight on. “What are we doing here?”

Mingi looked at him like he’d grown another head. “We’re sailing.”

Hongjoong shook his head. “But where are we going? And why?”

“I don’t… I don’t understand.”

Hongjoong tried asking him again, but he seemed to be closing off. Eventually, he shut his mouth, stood up, and walked away. Hongjoong was left watching as the others seemed to engage in some ritual he couldn’t understand. It was almost like dancing, but the moves made no sense. None of them seemed to notice he wasn’t partaking.

With the ship’s deck before him, he shouldn’t have felt trapped, but he did. This had started so well, but as soon as he began to question it, it had crumbled.

He could now see the way San wouldn’t stop smiling, almost as though he couldn’t, even though his eyes were sad. Seonghwa kept walking the same paths around the ship. He seemed to be having conversations with people who weren’t there.

And still, he knew there was something off about them all. They looked wrong somehow. Not like themselves. Or rather, like a version of themselves that they could have been if they hadn’t ended up where they were.

Or… where were they? Why were they here? Why could he see them?

Yeosang dances past him, but he reached out and grabbed his arm. He couldn’t think straight, so instead, he just pulled him into his chest. He held him closely, even when Yeosang asked what was wrong and tried to get away.

His motions were sluggish and repeated. He was a broken record playing through a concrete wall. He was skinny as well. Too skinny. It was like holding a skeleton. A piece of paper. Something that was nothing but was much more than anything.

* * *

Hongjoong jolted awake. He grabbed the air in front of him, trying to hold onto Yeosang before he disappeared, but it was too late. He was already gone. He had never been there in the first place. He was still trapped in the conservatory on the third floor; or at least, that’s where Hongjoong had lost him.

He’d lost them. Not that long ago, they’d been together, trying to make themselves a home in one of the blown-out classrooms. Until it had started raining, it had been perfect. Everything ran smoothly and they’d finally been able to hold on to something real.

But then the storm had come. The storm that lasted for weeks. They’d tried to stick it out the first night, all curling up into a bed and huddling under two or three blankets. They had expected it to end, but it hadn’t. And three days later, they were forced to move on.

Hongjoong straightened up and wandered to a nearby mirror. It was cracked and in pieces, but it worked. He flattened his hair. It was blue. He had a flashback to the dream when his hair had been red. He’d never had red hair before. It had always been brown, and then it was blue. Yeosang had insisted on it, using the last bottle of hair dye that they could find. He’d been gentle and it had been the highlight of Hongjoong’s week. Now, whenever he saw it in window reflections, he smiled.

He missed the others. He knew Wooyoung was trapped in the parking garage, but at least it was cool there and he didn’t get hit by the killer winds. Yunho and San were together and doing there best to make it out of the music room they were stuck in. Seonghwa was… gone. He was probably safe, but no one knew what had happened to him. And Jongho was outside.

He was probably in the most danger since it wasn’t always safe outside. There were still lots of fires and buzzards and the sun and rain. Hongjoong needed to get to him, but he couldn’t get out.

He had the most space of them. With a large hanger/gym and countless empty halls to wander, he had it made. If only he could get through some of these doors and maybe get closer to someone who could help. Sometimes, he thought he could hear Mingi yelling through the walls, but he could never find him.

He gathered his things together, gave himself another once over in the mirror, and headed out. He’d found one hallway that he thought might get him to some stairs. If he could just get through the door at the end, he’d be able to find Wooyoung, and together, they could find the others.

It took him about ten minutes to get there, but he finally made it over the rubble and made it to the door. But, instead of it being locked like normal, it was standing open. He rushed through it, taking off running through the halls as fast as he could.

This meant that his friends were near, the others were near, Yeosang was near! He ran and ran and when he hit another door, he pushed straight through. He ran and ran and ran and only stopped when he saw it.

It looked like a bed, hanging on the wall right in the middle of the hall. There was a figure laying on the bed as well, and it looked like him. Same blue hair, same black jacket, same shaking hands.

But he wasn’t going to let this apparition stop him from getting to them. He couldn’t.

So he started running again. He ran and he ran and he ran and he made contact.

* * *

He burst through the wall and onto a road. Or, at least it looked like a road. There was nothing around it, just blackness, and it seemed like it ran on forever in one direction. He was alone, and he couldn’t see any of the others, but he somehow knew that they were close by. If he just kept running, he’d reach them. He could laugh at Mingi’s jokes and tease Seonghwa for his weird relationship with San. He could coddle Yunho, make sure Jongho was eating well, and Wooyoung wasn’t alone. And he could hold Yeosang again.

So he took off running and running and running, the thought of his friends inspiring him on and on and on. He’d be okay. They’d be okay. And together again. Finally together again.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this for an event on the ATEEZ Amino, but I hope you like it!
> 
> follow me on twitter (@kycluvbot) or tumblr (@lemonyos or @twesuie) or even on Instagram (@sunlitsan)


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